Athlete domain name

[hieroglyphics]

I own a domain name of a professional athlete, who has personally been in touch with me to retrieve his .com.

I've set the site up as a website for fans of his to come and view information about him. He is not offering me any money, just threatening to get his lawyer involved. I'm not profiting with ads, nor linking to another site, nor slandering his name.

I fully expect a response from a lawyer very soon, but whats the best way to go about dealing with a possible domain sale of this sort?

 

[deez007]

Hmmm interesting.....the thing is, u are essentially leveraging of his brand.

I think if it does go to court he would have a better chance of coming out on top than u do.

It's also a bit of a douchebag thing for him to do considering it a fan site... he could have at the very least made an offer to pay you out...I mean he is a pro athlete it's not like can't afford to drop a $1000 or something to buy the domain.

Tell People magazine u have a story for them, sell them the story and Tell them how much of a Douchbag this pro athlete is...hahaahaha.. (just kidding, that's probably not a good idea)

 

[hieroglyphics]

Yeah, I'm banking on the fact that he wouldn't take it that far. Logically speaking, why drop $20k in a court case when he could offer me a minor amount and I'd probably take it.

 

[deez007]

Yeah, I'm banking on the fact that he wouldn't take it that far. Logically speaking, why drop $20k in a court case when he could offer me a minor amount and I'd probably take it.

It would have been better if the domain was not developed.. then you could have used my "pet dog" approach. You could have said you dog's name was lets say for example Micheal Jordan and he died and you bought the domain to put up a site in memory of him.....then take some pics of ur friends dog and stick it up on the site with some blah blah blah about what an awesome dog he was...., lol. ...but now that u already have content related to the pro athlete on the site it's too late to take the pet dog approach

 

[snuzzyki]

One thing , if athlete name was JohnBlack, there is surely more than one Joe Black on this planet , why would someone have rights to own this name better than any other person, maybe you registered this name for your unborn son who will have his surname changed to John Black when he is born, who knows...

 

[deez007]

One thing , if athlete name was JohnBlack, there is surely more than one Joe Black on this planet , why would someone have rights to own this name better than any other person, maybe you registered this name for your unborn son who will have his surname changed to John Black when he is born, who knows...

Lol... I see you enjoy finding loopholes in the system as much as I do.

 

[snuzzyki]

the whole world is full of nonsense , honest people do suffer while sharpies and chancers live very good lifes

 

[hieroglyphics]

It would have been better if the domain was not developed.. then you could have used my "pet dog" approach. You could have said you dog's name was lets say for example Micheal Jordan and he died and you bought the domain to put up a site in memory of him.....then take some pics of ur friends dog and stick it up on the site with some blah blah blah about what an awesome dog he was...., lol. ...but now that u already have content related to the pro athlete on the site it's too late to take the pet dog approach

That is interesting. I don't know if it really works against me, I did quite a bit of research the past few days, it seems in cases of owning a semi-famous or famous person's name, if there is no proven "Bad Faith", its very difficult to claim the domain name. Apparently something to do with 1st Amendment rights. I'm no lawyer, but maybe others have experience in cases like these. I'm more interested in playing this one out, seeing what happens because it does seem like a rather thin case. As of right now he just wants me to hand it over.

 

[deez007]

That is interesting. I don't know if it really works against me, I did quite a bit of research the past few days, it seems in cases of owning a semi-famous or famous person's name, if there is no proven "Bad Faith", its very difficult to claim the domain name. Apparently something to do with 1st Amendment rights. I'm no lawyer, but maybe others have experience in cases like these. I'm more interested in playing this one out, seeing what happens because it does seem like a rather thin case. As of right now he just wants me to hand it over.

Nice one dude... and Kudos for wanting to play it out!

 

[Casey L]

Give it up, not worth any potential legal issues. Maybe ask for some signed memorabilia in return

 

[DomainVP]

Out of curiosity, what sport does the person play? How notable are they?

Good luck!

 

[jberryhill]

maybe you registered this name for your unborn son who will have his surname changed to John Black when he is born, who knows...

Who knows? Gee... maybe people who can READ:

I've set the site up as a website for fans of his to come and view information about him.

Non-commercial fan sites are quite often okay. However, you have to wonder about a "fan" who decides they want to get into a fight with the person they ostensibly admire.

I mean, yeah right, "I really, really like (celebrity) so much that when they asked me for a favor I told them to bugger off and decided to fight with his lawyers."

Does that make any kind of sense to anyone? Do you expect a thinking person to believe it? Do you think the people who decide these cases are complete idiots?

 

[martinrussell]

Be honest. With yourself, and with those of us here. Did you buy this name with any thought at all to cashing in? If not, and you are a fan, then call him out.

But. Likewise to you. Have you been found out?

And if I may, a word of caution: We own / have owned a lot of names as a courtesy to their rightful owners. Actors, musicians, politicians and athletes included. We put up a lander (not monetized) and forward (REFRESH for the geeks) to their existing site or a WIKI page or IMDb or…

We always give the name away when we are asked / approached. BUT make sure you can verify their IDentity! There's nothing like finding out that you almost gave the name to a pretender who would then turn it around to try to extort money from, again: the rightful owner.

 

[ttfan]

And if I may, a word of caution: We own / have owned a lot of names as a courtesy to their rightful owners. Actors, musicians, politicians and athletes included. We put up a lander (not monetized) and forward (REFRESH for the geeks) to their existing site or a WIKI page or IMDb or…We always give the name away when we are asked / approached.

That does not sound like a very good business model. Why do you do this?

 

[martinrussell]

That does not sound like a very good business model. Why do you do this?

In short, because it's the right thing to do. It's not all about the model or plan and profit.

 

[Kate]

Yeah, I'm banking on the fact that he wouldn't take it that far. Logically speaking, why drop $20k in a court case when he could offer me a minor amount and I'd probably take it.

He can file a UDRP too. A bona fide fan site is defensible. But even assuming you've been acting in good faith, is it worth the hassle ?